County commissioner arrested on assault charge in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee local official has been arrested after police said he choked his girlfriend at a fast food restaurant.

Memphis police said Monday that Shelby County Commissioner Justin Ford has been charged with aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

Police said Ford's girlfriend told officers he physically assaulted and choked her during an argument at a Church's Chicken on Sunday.

Ford did not immediately return an email Monday from The Associated Press. A woman who answered the phone at the commission's office said she was referring calls for comment on Ford's arrest to commission Chairman Melvin Burgess. He did immediately return the call.

Ford was elected county commissioner in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Ford's uncle, Harold Ford Sr., and his cousin, Harold Ford Jr., are former U.S. congressmen.